water wheel



(No Model.)

. 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. W. TYLER.

.7 WATER WHEEL.

No. 459,969. Patented Sept. 22, 1891.

llnnflllimumilm WITNESSES MIA TTORNEY.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. W. W. TYLER. WATER WHEEL.

Patented Sept. 22, 1891.

I) III W1 T NESSES HJ'ATTOHNEY.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

\VILLIAM \V. TYLER, OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE JAMES LEFFELdo COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

WATER-WH EEL.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 459,969, dated September22, 1891.

Application filed October 8,1890. Serial No. 367,423. (No model.)

T on whom it may concern:

Be it known that I. WILLIAM W. TYLER, a citizen of the UnitedStates,residing at Springfield, in the county of Clark and State ofOhio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ater-Wheels,of which the following is a specification, reference being had thereinto the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in turbinewater-Wheels.

My improvements have reference to the provision of a series of chutes inthe wheel-casing of progressive sizes, running from a small to a largeor larger chute, each chute being larger than the preceding chutecommencing with the smallest and going toward the largest in connectionwith a suitable gate adapted to cut off the water from one or more orallof said chutes, whereby the amount of water admitted vto the wheelmay be regulated according to the head or quantity of water availableand according to the power desired to be developed by the wheel; havereference to the combination of a casing with said chutes and suchgates, and with a turbine wheel havingtwo tiers of buckets from eitherof which water may be cut off by blocking or otherwise obstructing somuch of one or more of said chutes as leads to the tier desired to becut off, whereby the apparatus may be further adjusted to the supply ofwateravailable and to the amount of power desired to be developed; havereference to the provision of annular or partially-annular waterspacebetween the discharge ends of the chutes and the periphery of the wheelor the entering ends of the buckets in combination with said graduatedsizes of chutes, and have reference to certain matters of detailhereinafter appearing.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, andon which like reference letters indicate corresponding parts, Figure 1represents a partial plan and partial sectional View of awater-wheelentire embodying my improvements; Fig. 2, a detail side elevation of thegate structure, showing the webs of the chutes beyond it; Fig. 3, avertical sectional view in a radial direction from the shaft of one-halfof the structure shown in Fig. 1,the section being on the line m a: ofsaid figure and in the direction of the arrow; and Fig. 4, a detail planview of the dial, the pointer, its shaft, and the hand-wheel, suchdevices being used to determine which and how many of the chutes areclosed or how much of the chute area is open to the passage of thewater.

The letter A designates a shaft designed to be mounted as usual andhaving about it a column B, supported by the top or plate 0 of thecasing and itself assisting to support a follower-block D formaintaining the shaft A in position. The lower part of the casing isformed of spiders E, having a hub portion F. To the outer ends of thespiders is secured an annular vertical plate G of the casing proper, towhich is connected, preferably by being cast therewith, an annularhorizontal plate or rim H. At intervals round and upon this plate H arecast or otherwise secured rim-connecting partition-walls I and J, whichserve to separate the groups of chutes and to form respectively one wallof the last and first chute of two respective groups. Thesepartition-walls I and J also serve instead of the usual posts to supportand connect the upper annular horizontal plate K. Thus a casing isformed within which the wheel is to rotate.

The space between the partition-wall J and the partition-wall I of anytwo of the partitions is divided off into chutes by vertical webs. Theweb 2, with a partition wall J, forms the first chute. The webs 2 and 3form the second chute. The webs 3 and 4 form the third chute, and theweb 4 and partitionwall I form the fourth chute of the series.

The location of the web 2 with respect to the partition-wall'J is suchas to make the first chute the smallest of the series. The location ofthe third web with respect to the second web is such as to make thesecond chute the next larger in size. The location of the fourth webwith respect to the third web makes the third chute somewhat larger thanthe second chute, and the location of the partition wall I with respectto the web a makes the last or fourth chute progressively larger thanthe third chute. The relative size of these chutes may vary in differentwheels for different purposes or to be used under differentcircumstances. By this provision of progressively larger chutes from thefirst to the last of the series and by the provision of a suitable gate,hereinafter described, t-he amount of water admitted to the wheel may beregulated with the greatest degree of nicety and with the desiredgraduation. If the head of water be large and full power be desired, allof the chutes will be opened. If a small amount of power only bedesired, then one or more of the chutes may be closed, and inasmuch asthe supply of water is but slightly diminished by closing, say, thefirst or first and second chutes the reduction is graduated and notsuddenly lessened or increased, according to whether such chutes areopened or closed. It will also be observed that the lengths of the websand the lengths of the chutes are progressively longer, as Well as thewidths of the chutes progressively greater. This preserves the properproportion of the width of the chutes to the length of the chutes, so asto obtain the proper shape of the webs to direct and yet not impede thewater.

Referring to the gates, the letter L designates a ring or belt supportedin part by being shouldered to fit the corresponding shoulder of theplate K, as seen at M in Fig. 3, and otherwise supported by thespider-arms 0, whose hub P fits over the columns B and rests upon thetop plate 0 of the casing. Rivets or bolts Q serve to connect the ring Lwith the spider-arms O, as seen in Fig. 1. A similar ring R embraces theplate II of the casing and is connected to the ring L by the walls S,which constitute the gates, as seen particularly in Fig. 1. In order toadjust the gates with respect to the chutes, so as to lap over one ormore of them, I attach a short rack T in the segment of a circle. Iactuate the rack by a pinion U, carried by a shaft V, mounted in a yoke\V, secured to the plate K of the casing. The shaft carries a hand-wheelX and a pointer U, beneath the latter of which is mounted a dial Z. (SeeFig. 4.) This dialplate is graduated, so as to indicate, in connectionwith the pointer, how many and which of the chutes are open or closed,as the case may be. There are as many gates S as there are groups ofchutes, and each gate is adapted to stand across and close all of thechutes of a group.

Referring now to another part of my inventionnamely, the provision of acontinuous space between the outside of the wheel or the entering endsof the buckets and the discharge ends of the chutesit will be seen thatthe webs 2 3 4: and the partition-walls I and J terminate outside of theinner edge of the plate II. This leaves a space which, together with theopen discharge ends of the chutes, forms the annular space. The waterprojected to the wheel through the chutes will thus circulate in a beltentirely around the wheel and will not be cut off or divided at the timeof entering the buckets of the wheel into separate and distinct streams,as would be the case if the webs were extended beyond the inner edge ofthe plate II and close to the periphery of the wheel or entering ends ofthe buckets. By the provision of this annular space it will beunderstood that the water being present in an annular belt around thewheel will enter every bucket, so that no bucket escapes uncharged, eventhough one or more, save all, of the chutes of each group be closed. Toillustrate this, let it be supposed that the gates are adjusted to closethe first and second chutes of a group marked Z) 0. Now the waterpassing from the third and the fourth chutes will unite and pass on toor opposite the discharge ends of the closed chutes b c of the nextgroups. This occurring with each group still maintains the annular beltof water or regular feed, and therefore the buckets passing the chutes b0 will receive water as though such chutes b 0 were open, though in aless quantity. Thus the water fed to the buckets is continuous, and ismaintained to all of the buckets, as distinguished from beingintermittent by being cut off from any of the buckets at any point inthe circle. This is of highest importance in obtaining the full power ofa water-wheel, because the fundamental problem is to maintain acontinuous and uniform feed, as distinguished from even a more violentintermittent feed, wherein the buckets are fed at intervals around thecircle, as distinguished from every point.

I have so far not described'any particular form of wheel and wish itunderstood that any approved type of turbine wheel may be used incarrying out my invention so far described. To obtain a further result,however, than that mentioned, and a valuable one in practice, I preferto use'a turbine wheel having two tiers of buckets. The wheel on themarketknown asthe Le'fl'er wheel is the kind I refer to. From Fig. 3 ofthe drawings it will be seen that this wheel is mounted upon the shaftA, and has upper buckets 5 with a central downward discharge and lowerbuckets 0 with a downward discharge. Now, the further result referred tois that of being able to not only graduate the water as regards thenumber of chutes and as regards the quantity admitted by the respectivechutes, but to graduate the quantity needed and the power developed byemploying either one or both tiers of the buckets. To do this I close upso much of one or more of the chutes as leads to one of said buckets. Ido not confine myself to any particular means for this purpose, butprefer the use of plugs of wood or metal or other suitable materialadapted to enter a chute and fit snugly therein, as suggested at 7 inFig. 3, wherein aplug stands in a chute and cuts off the delivery directof water into the lower tier of buckets. In this manner but one tier ofbuckets may be used, or both tiers by removing the plug. Thus,

also, the graduations of the water hereinbefore referred to, by means ofadjusting the gate across one or more of the graduated chutes, may beemployed in connection with but one tier of buckets or with both tiersof buckets.

From the foregoing the results and functions of my improvements will bereadily understood and the advantages be obvious to those skilled in thedepartment of mechanics to which they relate. It willalso be observedthat the chutes vary in length as well as width and that the longerchutes are the widest chutes, whereby the proportion of the area of thedischarge end to the length and the proper curvature thereof ispreserved, so that the discharge of the water and its deflection from aradial to a tangential direction are accomplished without obstructingit. The progressive difference in width of the discharge ends of thechutes will best be observed by noticing the space designated by d.

\Vhile it is preferred to close off the chutes, beginning with thesmallest one and going toward the largest, still it will not be outsideof the contemplation of my invention to reverse this order of closingthe gates.

Referring to Fig. 4, it will be understood that when the pointer Y isopposite the designation 5 6 this amount or proportion of the aggregateof chute area is open for the passage of water. When opposite 5 8, thisamount or proportion of chute-area is open to the passage of thewater,-and so on around the dial. The webs 2, 3, and 4 are preferablycurved in the outer part and approaching a straight line in the innerpart, as shown in Fig. 1, so as to insure the easy and proper change ofdirection of the water. By the graduation of the chutes hereinbeforereferred to the proper quantity of water to be admitted to the wheel isunder perfect control, and hence the annular space is kept properlyfilled, but at no time cramped and overfilled or partially emptied. Thusthe graduated chutes and the annular space unite in securing the properquantity and the proper use of such quantit Having thus fully describedmy invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is

1. In a water-wheel, the combination, with a wheel proper, a case, andgates, of a series of chutes of different areas, whereby only a smallpart of the water will be shut off from the wheel when the first one ortwo of the chutes are closed, said gates being adapted to close one ormore of said chutes.

2. In a water-wheel, the combination, with a Wheel proper, a case, andgates, of a series of Webs and a series of rim-connectingpartition-walls I J, substantially as described, said walls and saidwebs forming chutes, the chutes being of progressively-diiferent areasfrom minimum to maximum, whereby a smallpart of the water progressivelywill be shut off from the wheel when the first one or two chutes areclosed, said gates being adapted to close one or more of said'chutes. 19

3. In a water-wheel, the combination, with a wheel proper, a case, andgates, of chutes of progressively-increasing areas from minimum tomaximum and terminating at their discharge ends outside of the peripheryof the wheel or entering ends of the buckets to leave an annularwater-space, said gates be ing adapted to close one or more of saidchutes.

4. In a Water-Wheel, the combination, with a wheel proper having twotiers of buckets, a casing, and chutes of varying sizes from maximum tominimum within the said casing, of plugs adapted to fit the said chutes,respectively, and cut oif the direct delivery of water therefrom to onetier of said buckets.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIAM W. TYLER. Witnesses:

H. M. PLAISTED, WARREN HULL.

